Full Preterism On The Resurrection Of The Dead

[PeteWaldo]

2Ti 2:17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

It's my understanding that 2Timothy was penned about three decades after the cross.

While I'm an amillennial historicist and not a pre-millennial futurist, I thought this paragraph from a futurist nonetheless did a good job of explaining the risk:

"The Apostle Paul warns in II Timothy 2:17-18 of two false teachers in the church at Ephesus. These two heretics, Hymenaeus and Philetus, were preterists. They taught that the great eschatological event of the resurrection of the dead was past already. In doing this they overthrew the faith of some in the church (v. 18). Paul warns Timothy that heresy, and this preterist heresy in particular, would eat "as doth a canker" (v. 17). The word "canker" means gangrene. The warning is clear. Heresy spreads. It spreads like gangrene, the death of body tissues resulting in black, putrefying, foul-smelling flesh. Gangrene untreated spreads along the affected limb and leads to the death of the body. Usually the only remedy is amputation of the diseased area."

The KJV translates Strongs G1044 in the following manner: canker (1x).

a gangrene, a disease by which any part of the body suffering from inflammation becomes so corrupted that, unless a remedy be seasonably applied, the evil continually spreads, attacks other parts, and at last eats away the bones

Let's read the verse with that inserted:

2Ti 2:17 And their word will eat as doth a canker {will eat at the body of Christ as "a gangrene" "as a disease by which any part of the body suffering from inflammation becomes so corrupted that, unless a remedy be seasonably applied, the evil continually spreads, attacks other parts, and at last eats away the bones"}: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

I would say that suggests some very serious business. I wouldn't want to stand before my creator in their shoes. Any surprise then that full preterism stands outside nearly 2,000 years of universal Christian core doctrine.

[3 Resurrections]

It is a mistake to link the Hymenaeus and Philetus heresy with the Preteristic doctrinal position of today.  Those who claim that both of these are the same fail to understand the reason behind the origin of this error in Paul's day. 

The source of the heresy of these two men arose from a quite natural error that misunderstood the significance of what happened on the day of Christ's resurrection.  We are told in Matthew 27:52-53 that "...the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."  The resurrection of this group of saints was so astounding and memorable that Hymenaeus and Philetus presumed it was the total fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises for the resurrection of the dead, and they started teaching this error among the early church.

It wasn't the total fulfillment, of course.  This group was only the Firstfruits of the dead to be raised - a mere handful compared to those that would follow later.  There were 144,000 of these risen Firstfruits saints besides Christ, the Firstfruits leader of this group (I Cor. 15:20 "But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept.")  They literally stood in the city of Jerusalem on Mount Zion with a resurrected Christ, the Lamb - just as Matthew 27:52-53 and Rev. 14:1-5 describe.  They were called "virgins" in Rev. 14:4, because there is no marriage in the resurrected state (Luke 20:35).  They "followed the Lamb" everywhere He went (Rev. 14:4) during those 40 days that Christ remained on earth after His resurrection. 

These Matthew 27:52-53 resurrected saints were also called the "multitude of captives" that Christ brought with Him out of the grave on the day of His resurrection, and gave them as gifts to men (Eph. 4:8).  Some of these Matt. 27 risen saints were apostles (meaning "sent ones" - not the 12 apostles group), or prophets, or evangelists, or pastors, or teachers.  They were given to help build up the early church and to encourage them to stand fast in the faith under the persecutions by the Jewish leadership that sprang up almost immediately the day of Stephen's martyrdom (Acts 8:1).  Their very presence was a mute testimony to all the new believers that they could also expect to inherit this same type of resurrection after their own death if they were in Christ.  Paul also referred to these Matthew 27 risen saints who remained among the early church in Romans 8:23 when he called them "the Firstfruits of the Spirit" and His work of the redemption of their bodies (the adoption of the sons of God).

These Matthew 27:52-53 resurrected saints were also called "the remnant (loipoi) of the dead" who "lived again" at the First Resurrection along with Christ, described in Rev. 20:5.  (This, by the way, was also the same time in AD 33 when the literal millennium years were "finished" and "expired").  Their number of 144,000 represented just a remnant - a "blessed and holy" fraction of the total number of the righteous dead who would rise later in AD 70.  It was not possible for any of this resurrected 144,000 remnant to have been hurt by any of the torments that the city of Jerusalem experienced under its lengthy siege that led to its second death under the Romans.  A resurrected, incorruptible body is impervious to death or injury of any sort, whether spiritual or physical.

It is highly possible that Hymenaeus and Philetus may have personally encountered some of these resurrected saints, since they never died again (not possible for a resurrected saint to do so).  With the living presence of these Matthew 27 saints remaining among the early church (I Thess. 4:15, 17), Hymenaeus and Philetus were pointing to them and claiming that these Firstfruits saints represented the final completion of the church's expected resurrection hopes.  They were mistaken, of course, but their heresy must have sounded plausible to the early church.  It was just believable enough to "overthrow the faith of some" in those days.  To combat this discouraging error, Paul wrote to counter its effects in I Tim. 1:19-20, II Tim 2:17-18, I Cor. 15:12, and finally in I Thess. 4:13-18. 

Counter to what Hymenaeus and Philetus believed, following the First Resurrection in AD 33, there was indeed another 2nd physical resurrection that took place in AD 70.  Every New Testament book with one or 2 exceptions speaks of that soon-to-come expectation.  Full Preterism correctly acknowledges a resurrection at this time, but unfortunately for the vast majority, they deny its physical nature.  Christ's resurrected body was of the same nature as that of those "blessed and holy" Firstfruits, Matthew 27 saints raised with Him.  They provided the undeniable living proof that Christ, the "Firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29), shares the same resurrected body form with all that follow Him.  We, too, can expect the same type of incorruptible resurrected body form as our Savior's and that of the Matthew 27 saints.  It will arrive at the final, 3rd resurrection of the dead in our future, at the end of human history.

[notreligus]

It is a mistake to link the Hymenaeus and Philetus heresy with the Preteristic doctrinal position of today.  Those who claim that both of these are the same fail to understand the reason behind the origin of this error in Paul's day. 

The source of the heresy of these two men arose from a quite natural error that misunderstood the significance of what happened on the day of Christ's resurrection.  We are told in Matthew 27:52-53 that "...the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."  The resurrection of this group of saints was so astounding and memorable that Hymenaeus and Philetus presumed it was the total fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises for the resurrection of the dead, and they started teaching this error among the early church.

It wasn't the total fulfillment, of course.  This group was only the Firstfruits of the dead to be raised - a mere handful compared to those that would follow later.  There were 144,000 of these risen Firstfruits saints besides Christ, the Firstfruits leader of this group (I Cor. 15:20 "But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept.")  They literally stood in the city of Jerusalem on Mount Zion with a resurrected Christ, the Lamb - just as Matthew 27:52-53 and Rev. 14:1-5 describe.  They were called "virgins" in Rev. 14:4, because there is no marriage in the resurrected state (Luke 20:35).  They "followed the Lamb" everywhere He went (Rev. 14:4) during those 40 days that Christ remained on earth after His resurrection. 

These Matthew 27:52-53 resurrected saints were also called the "multitude of captives" that Christ brought with Him out of the grave on the day of His resurrection, and gave them as gifts to men (Eph. 4:8).  Some of these Matt. 27 risen saints were apostles (meaning "sent ones" - not the 12 apostles group), or prophets, or evangelists, or pastors, or teachers.  They were given to help build up the early church and to encourage them to stand fast in the faith under the persecutions by the Jewish leadership that sprang up almost immediately the day of Stephen's martyrdom (Acts 8:1).  Their very presence was a mute testimony to all the new believers that they could also expect to inherit this same type of resurrection after their own death if they were in Christ.  Paul also referred to these Matthew 27 risen saints who remained among the early church in Romans 8:23 when he called them "the Firstfruits of the Spirit" and His work of the redemption of their bodies (the adoption of the sons of God).

These Matthew 27:52-53 resurrected saints were also called "the remnant (loipoi) of the dead" who "lived again" at the First Resurrection along with Christ, described in Rev. 20:5.  (This, by the way, was also the same time in AD 33 when the literal millennium years were "finished" and "expired").  Their number of 144,000 represented just a remnant - a "blessed and holy" fraction of the total number of the righteous dead who would rise later in AD 70.  It was not possible for any of this resurrected 144,000 remnant to have been hurt by any of the torments that the city of Jerusalem experienced under its lengthy siege that led to its second death under the Romans.  A resurrected, incorruptible body is impervious to death or injury of any sort, whether spiritual or physical.

It is highly possible that Hymenaeus and Philetus may have personally encountered some of these resurrected saints, since they never died again (not possible for a resurrected saint to do so).  With the living presence of these Matthew 27 saints remaining among the early church (I Thess. 4:15, 17), Hymenaeus and Philetus were pointing to them and claiming that these Firstfruits saints represented the final completion of the church's expected resurrection hopes.  They were mistaken, of course, but their heresy must have sounded plausible to the early church.  It was just believable enough to "overthrow the faith of some" in those days.  To combat this discouraging error, Paul wrote to counter its effects in I Tim. 1:19-20, II Tim 2:17-18, I Cor. 15:12, and finally in I Thess. 4:13-18. 

Counter to what Hymenaeus and Philetus believed, following the First Resurrection in AD 33, there was indeed another 2nd physical resurrection that took place in AD 70.  Every New Testament book with one or 2 exceptions speaks of that soon-to-come expectation.  Full Preterism correctly acknowledges a resurrection at this time, but unfortunately for the vast majority, they deny its physical nature.  Christ's resurrected body was of the same nature as that of those "blessed and holy" Firstfruits, Matthew 27 saints raised with Him.  They provided the undeniable living proof that Christ, the "Firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29), shares the same resurrected body form with all that follow Him.  We, too, can expect the same type of incorruptible resurrected body form as our Savior's and that of the Matthew 27 saints.  It will arrive at the final, 3rd resurrection of the dead in our future, at the end of human history.

You've stated a lot of religious jargon in your post but what does all of this have to do with two Gnostics who believed that the flesh is evil and therefore they rejected bodily resurrection? 

[3 Resurrections]

notreligus  -  Correction: Hymenaeus and Philetus were not Gnostics who considered that the flesh is evil, and then totally denied that any resurrection would ever take place for anyone.  They believed that the physical resurrection promised in the OT had already taken place in their day, and that no one could expect another resurrection event after that one.  II Timothy 2:18, "Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already..."  The only way they could have made that mistake would have been because they actually saw these resurrected Matthew 27 saints themselves, or had heard others testify of the AD 33 mass resurrection of these Matthew 27 saints, and were basing their heresy on that information.

It's true that the comment was a bit jumbled and difficult to wade through, but perhaps a slower digestion of the material would be a good idea.  It's comprised of bits and pieces of 4 years of study on this topic compressed into one comment.  You may have noticed that I have trouble condensing my thoughts into short statements.  Brevity is an art that some on this forum have mastered completely.   I'm green with envy.

[Tertullian]

That Hymenaeus' false teaching was so easy for people to accept sheds some light on the expectations of Christians at the time.


I would elaborate, but I don't want to risk a lengthy reply.